Statement

Statement on work practices

Painting

Mixed Media Paintings: Current mixed media images are a spin off from experimenting with printmaking, particularly from making collagraph plates. I build up the surface with a variety of materials such as tile cement, cloth and layers of paint then work back through these surfaces with sandpaper, needles and cutting tools before adding more layers of paint, varnish and wax. The subject matter may derive from my personal response to politics and cultural issues or stem from a memory or experience of everyday things such as environment, music, food & clothes.

Watercolours: I work quickly wet on wet, moving the paint around the surface as it dries in an effort to convey my emotional response to the changing light and colours of the Yorkshire landscape that I love. I see my work as a visual diary, the images recording the season, weather and time of day.

Printmaking

Relief & Intaglio: In 2007 & 08 I attended printmaking courses tutored by Peter Wray RE & Moira McTague respectively. Stimulated by this experience I bought a small Rollaco etching press so that I could continue building on the experience and trying out different printmaking methods.

Digital: Since owning my first instamatic camera in the 1970s photography has been an important creative tool, I moved on to developing my own monochrome film but now work exclusively with digital equipment. I use cameras as a resource tool and also produce digital images as an art form in their own right. Images from The Road Kill diaries project were selected for a national touring show running April 2007 to March 2008, one published in an article by Anne Desmet in the International magazine Printmaking Today (Vol 16 - No4) and the Open Show at Leeds City Gallery 2009